The field of the invention relates to the continuous bleaching, dyeing and finishing of an elongated mass of flaccid material, particularly a tubular mass of circular knitted fabric such as cotton or a blend of two or more materials, and the apparatus for doing so like that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,646, the contents of which are incorporated hereby by reference. During the knitting of a piece of tubular flaccid material, torque (a twist) is inherently imparted to the fabric. In a subsequent operation, where the tubular mass is worked upon, such as in a bleaching kier, this twist becomes a processing deterrent, causing the elongated mass to "kink up" into knots to the extent that the effectiveness of the operation sought to be carried out on the flaccid material (bleaching for example) is materially reduced. Because of this inherent twist and undesirable consequence during bleaching in a bleaching kier, at least one prior art technique has been developed to remove it, namely, a turntable apparatus and a semi-batch process to remove the torque in the fabric.
The present invention deals with the problem of removal of twist or torque in an elongated mass of flaccid material, but in a continuous and much more efficient manner with a minimum amount of equipment, compared to prior art methods and apparatus.